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The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Arrest
May 10, 11:50 a.m.: A man that had been trespassed from the Watertown Mall came back to the mall. Police were called and employees pointed the man out to them. The man had been sent a trespass order after being told to leave because he was unwanted. He had also been drinking alcohol in the Mall.
Ai3 ArchitectsA rendering of what a two-story modular building could look like on Moxley Field. It would be the temporary location for Watertown High School while a new school is constructed. Watertown School officials will look at busing students to the temporary high school and the middle school if modulars are built on Moxley Field, the School Building Committee heard at its meeting on Wednesday. Designers of the new Watertown High School, and the temporary campus, responded to a petition submitted by neighbors of the area near Moxley Field, addressing all the questions raised including: traffic issues, issues with tearing up the field dedicated to a Watertown Marine, stormwater issues and others. See the slide presentation from the meeting by clicking here.
Charlie BreitroseWatertown’s Town Hall. The Town Council should be able to hire its own staff or consultants without having to ask the Town Administration for funding, the Charter Review Committee decided Tuesday night. Also, Tuesday, the Committee recommended changing the Charter, which spells out how the Town’s government operates, to add more details about how the Town Council sets policies. Hiring Staff
The members of the Charter Review Committee agreed that the Council should be able to hire assistants, but they disagreed on the best way to specify it in the Charter, and how much detail should be included. One of the proposals presented by Michael Ward, the consultant from the Collins Center, was to specify hiring an analyst, with a second recommendation which would enable the Council, by passing an ordinance, to hire more staff that it deems necessary.
After looking at three options, one was eliminated, and two were moved forward with one chosen as the recommended route. The recommended route would be to continue the path along Arsenal Street, which currently goes along the north side of the street from School Street to Irving Street. It would continue west to Taylor Street and then go along Taylor, cross Mt. Auburn Street and then go along Baptist Walk, through the municipal parking lots in Watertown Square to link with the path near the Watertown Library. The cost estimate for the project is $1.3 million, according to VHB, the project designer.
The Town Council heard a proposal for how to fill the vacant District D Town Council seat, but could not make a vote due to an error during the subcommittee meeting held the previous week. One of the rules changes made by the Governor impacting remote meetings requires all votes to be made by roll call. During the May 5 meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on District D Vacancy the group made a unanimous vote to recommend a process for filling the seat that became vacant when Ken Woodland had to resign to take a job that does not allow him to serve on the Council. However, the vote was not done by roll call — with each committee member being called upon and voicing their vote. Town Attorney Mark Reich, from KP Law, said that the vote should have been made by roll call, and added that since the plan was not put on the May 11 Council Meeting’s agenda as an action item the Council might be in violation of the Open Meeting Law if the it took a vote to approve the plan.
The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Arrests
None
Incidents
May 3, 3:41 p.m.: The owner of a work vehicle left in Watertown was informed that the vehicle had been involved in an incident in Walpole. The 2005 Ford pickup had been parked at a construction site on Howard Street on April 30, and the following day Walpole Police stopped the vehicle and found that the driver did not have a driver’s license and it was towed. At the time, Walpole Police did not know the vehicle had been stolen. When they realized it was stolen they contacted the owner.
Embarc StudioThe new building at 101 North Beacon St. has 28 condos in three-stories. Developers have not been able to get electricity to the building, an await a decision from the Town Council which has said it prefers not to have a new utility pole installed as part of the project. For the second time, the Town Council voted to table the vote on a proposed petition to put in a new utility pole on Irving Street to supply power to a new residential building on North Beacon Street. The petition submitted by Eversource is asking to install a new pole about 18 feet north of another pole on Irving Street, just south of North Beacon Street.
A fire started in an apartment in an apartment complex on Watertown Street on Wednesday, but was doused before it spread within the unit or to other apartments. The Watertown Fire Department received the fire alarm at 1:31 p.m. on Wednesday. The fire began in the kitchen area of a unit in the Watertown Square Apartments, located at 20 Watertown Street. No one was home when the fire began, but it was discovered by an alert employee, said Watertown Fire Capt. Eric Allen, the WFD’s Fire Investigator. “There was a maintenance worker that was on the roof of the building that saw smoke coming out of one of the vents,” Allen said.